Vent cover plate

ABSTRACT

A vent plate for mounting in a termination receptacle for an air supply duct has an upper plate portion integrally molded with a sleeve portion having a hollow interior for receiving air from the termination receptacle and communicating with a central hole of the plate portion. The plate portion has a peripheral flange portion projecting outwardly from and surrounding the central area including a down turned edge flange so as to terminate at an outer sharp edge which is spaced axially from the plane of the front face. A separate center plate with a series of holes so as allow the air to escape is shaped and arranged to be received in the central opening and is held in place by peripheral ribs and sits against supporting abutments in the sleeve.

The invention relates to a vent cover plate for use in a venttermination receptacle of an HVAC system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the construction of HVAC systems, a central air handler delivers airto the interior of the structure through a main plenum duct, and aseries of branch ducts which terminate at a vent termination receptaclewhich attaches to a vent plate for controlling the discharge of air intothe space.

With a higher pressure air system such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 6,800,024 (Prevost) issued Oct. 5, 2004, the vent terminationreceptacle includes a housing which is preferably of greater crosssectional area than the supply duct so that the air leaving the ductworkat the vents expands rapidly as it enters the housing and creates alower air pressure zone around the vent. This is a practical applicationof Bernoulli's theorem and the Venturi effect. One of the problems ofhigher pressure air systems (commonly known as Hi-Velocity systems) isthat conventional damper assemblies such as those described in U.S. Pat.Nos.4,513,655-4,628,954-4,653,725-5,411,438-5,806,830-5,813,430-5,857,617-5,921,277and 6,082,704 will cause air noise.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a ventcover plate for a termination receptacle for an air supply duct.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a vent platefor mounting in a termination receptacle for an air supply duct, thevent plate comprising:

a plate portion;

a sleeve portion connected to the plate portion so as to extend to oneside of the plate portion;

the sleeve portion having a hollow interior for receiving air from thetermination receptacle and communicating with a central area of theplate portion which has openings to allow passage of air through theplate portion;

the plate portion having a peripheral flange portion projectingoutwardly from and surrounding the central area;

wherein the plate portion includes a central opening at the central areaand a separate center portion which is perforated with a series of holesso as allow the air to escape;

the center portion being shaped and arranged to be received in thecentral opening and to be removed from the central opening leaving thecentral opening open.

Preferably the center portion has a front face with is coplanar with afront face of the peripheral flange portion.

Preferably the center portion has a peripheral wall engaging into anannular wall surrounding the center opening wherein the peripheral walland the annular wall have cooperating peripheral ribs for snap fasteningthe center portion into the opening.

Preferably the sleeve has a plurality of angularly spaced inwardlyprojecting abutment members for engaging a rear face of the centerportion.

Preferably the sleeve has a plurality of angularly spaced longitudinallyextending ribs.

Preferably the peripheral flange portion includes a down turned edgeflange so as to terminate at an outer edge which is spaced axially fromthe plane of the front face.

Preferably the outer edge lies in a plane substantially co-planar with arear face of the center portion.

Preferably the sleeve and the flange portion are integrally molded froma plastics material.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a ventplate for mounting in a termination receptacle for an air supply duct,the vent plate comprising:

a plate portion;

a sleeve portion connected to the plate portion so as to extend to oneside of the plate portion;

the sleeve portion having a hollow interior for receiving air from thetermination receptacle and communicating with a central area of theplate portion which has openings to allow passage of air through theplate portion;

the plate portion having a peripheral flange portion projectingoutwardly from and surrounding the central area;

wherein the peripheral flange portion includes a down turned edge flangeso as to terminate at an outer edge which is spaced axially from theplane of the front face.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing the vent cover plate accordingto the present invention in place in the vent termination receptacle.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view on an enlarged scale showing the ventcover plate of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the vent cover plate of FIG. 1 from thetop and one side.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the vent cover plate of FIG. 1 from thebottom and one side.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 is shown an embodiment of the invention. The duct system froma central air source (not shown) provides a branch duct 10 communicatingto a termination receptacle generally indicated at 11 which co-operateswith a vent plate 12. The termination receptacle is formed in two piecesincluding a housing 13 and a damper sleeve 14.

The housing 13 forms a generally cylindrical wall 15 with a closedbottom end 16 and an open top end. At the top end is provided aperipheral flange 17 which as shown is square in plan view but can becircular or can be formed simply by a plurality of tabs with the flangelying in a plane which is at right angles to the longitudinal axis 18 ofthe cylindrical housing 13. The flange 17 is attached to the undersideof a floor (not shown) forming a mounting surface for the housing.

In the alternative the flange can be mounted on the inside surface of asheathing material forming a wall surface or on the top surface of asheathing material forming a ceiling. Thus the housing is held in placein a fixed position with the axis 18 at right angles to the duct 10.

An inlet pipe 20 is connected to the duct 10 by suitable connectionsystem and is formed as an integral structure with the housing providingan opening between the end of the inlet pipe and the interior of thehousing. The inlet pipe is circular in cross section so that the openingis also circular and extends through the cylindrical wall 15 to thehollow interior of the housing. The inlet pipe is of smaller crosssectional area and thus smaller diameter than the housing 13 so that airentering the housing from the inlet pipe expands and slows in aconventional manner used in high pressure systems of this type.

The damper sleeve member 14 forms a generally cylindrical shape havingan outer surface which co-operates with an inner surface of thecylindrical wall 15 of the housing in a sliding fit so that the dampersleeve can rotate around the axis 18 within the housing 15. A bottomedge 22 of the sleeve extends to the bottom of the housing to a positionbelow the inlet pipe so as to extend to a portion of the housing beyondthe bottom of the inlet pipe.

The longitudinal extent of the housing from the base 16 to the flange 17is preferably 3.5 inches in length so that it can fit underneath thefloor sheeting 19 and between the floor support studs 23 of aconventional 2×4 dimension.

The vent plate 12 includes a central area which is perforated with ventopenings to allow air from the housing to escape through the vent plateinto the space above the floor sheathing. Around the central dischargearea of the vent plate is provided a flange section 12A which covers anopening in the sheathing so as to provide an attractive appearance forthe discharge vent of the air supply system. On the back of the ventplate is provided a collar 24 which inserts into an upper discharge end25 of the cylindrical sleeve as a tight fit. The angular orientation ofthe vent plate relative to this sleeve can be adjusted by pulling thecollar from the sleeve and rotating the vent plate relative to thesleeve and reinserting the collar into the sleeve at the requiredangular orientation. When inserted the collar is held in place withinthe end of the sleeve by suitable projections such as a peripheral ribwhich frictionally engages the sleeve to hold the vent plate attached tothe sleeve. Thus manual rotation of the vent plate causes similarrotation of the sleeve about the axis 18 within the housing 13.

The sleeve includes a cut-out 26 with a curved top edge 26A and twovertical sides 26B. When the cut-out is thus aligned with the inletopening of the inlet pipe 20, air can flow from the inlet pipe into thehollow interior of the housing that is within the hollow interior of thesleeve since the sleeve is a close fit on the inside of the housing.However when the sleeve is rotated relative to the housing one of theside edges 26B crosses over into the area of the opening of the inletthus cutting off a portion of the area of the opening to reduce theamount of air flow through the inlet pipe into the housing. When rotatedthrough an angle of the order of 90°, the sleeve fully covers theopening of the inlet pipe to prevent air passage into the housing thusclosing off that particular duct 10.

The damper sleeve thus provides a simple technique for closing off theduct 10 or for reducing air flow through the duct 10 simply by rotatingthe vent plate. The tight fit of the sleeve within the housing preventsor significantly reduces the passage of air around or through gaps inthe system so that there is little noise or whistling effect due to thehigh pressure flow. When fully closed by the sleeve being turned, theopening of the inlet pipe is fully closed by the outside surface of thesleeve and the escape of air around the opening into the space betweenthe sleeve and the housing is prevented or inhibited by the closetolerances between the surfaces and by the fact that the closure isformed not by a simple edge but by portions of the outside and insidesurface respectively of the sleeve and housing.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the housing and the sleeve are bothpreferably formed from molded plastics material so as to provide areduction in friction between the outside surface of the sleeve and theinside surface of the housing. Alternatively both pieces can be formedfrom plastics material.

The inlet pipe 20 leading to the opening 20A in the housing 13 is formedas an integrally molded structure with the housing. Further, the housingis molded to define a shoulder 30 between two cylindrical portions 31and 32 so that the shoulder co-operates with a corresponding shoulder 33formed on the sleeve between two cylindrical portions 34 and 35. Theposition of the shoulder co-operates with or is located at the bottomend of the collar 24 of the vent plate 12. Thus the sleeve can beinserted until the shoulder 33 sits on the shoulder 30 so as to locatethe depth of the sleeve within the housing.

The bottom end of the sleeve is closed by a bottom end portion 40 whichis molded with the wall 35. The bottom end portion 40 provides a surfacewhich is curved so as to match the bottom circular portion of theopening 20A so that air entering the housing through the opening 20Apasses smoothly onto the surface defined by the bottom portion 40 as acontinuation of the pipe surface. The bottom portion 40 is also curvedto define a semi-circular curved portion 40B which extends from thebottom surface portion of the inlet pipe 20 through 90° in a smoothcurvature from a horizontal surface portion 40C at the inlet pipe to avertical portion 40D at the wall 35. Thus the air entering from theinlet pipe is smoothly curved to move from a horizontal direction at theinlet pipe to a vertical direction along the axis 18 to the perforatedvent area 12B of the vent plate 12.

The outside surface of the collar 24 carries a plurality of ribs 24Awhich co-operate with corresponding grooves in the wall 34 so as to actas a friction fit by which rotation of the vent plate 12 causes rotationof the sleeve 14. However the vent plate can be pulled out of thesleeve, rotated relative to the sleeve and reinserted so as to changethe angular orientation with the grooves and ribs being arranged tolocate and hold the angular orientation once set. This can be used toadjust the angular position of the vent openings of the vent area 12Brelative to the location of the opening 20A so as to direct the air inthe required position into the space.

The vent plate shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 includes a plate portion 51having a front face 52 and rear face 53 and a sleeve portion 51connected to the plate portion at the rear face so as to extend to therear of the plate portion.

The sleeve portion defines a hollow interior as previously explained forreceiving air from the termination receptacle and communicating with ahole 54 in the center area of the plate portion 51.

The plate portion 51 has a peripheral flange portion 55 projectingoutwardly from and surrounding the central area. In the embodiment thehole and the peripheral flange are circular but this is not essential.The sleeve and the flange portion are integrally molded from a plasticsmaterial.

A separate center plate portion 57 also molded of a plastics materialhas an annular peripheral wall 58 and a central area which has openings59 to allow passage of air through the plate portion.

The outer peripheral wall of the center portion is shaped and arrangedto be received in the central hole 54 and to be removed from the centralopening leaving the central opening open. This allows the vent plate tobe used with the center plate as a cover or with it removed to allowfree escape of the air from the sleeve.

The front face of the center portion is coplanar with a front face ofthe peripheral flange portion. In particular the peripheral wall 58engages into an annular wall 60 surrounding the center opening. Theperipheral wall and the annular wall have cooperating peripheral ribs61, 62 for snap fastening the center portion into the opening. Thesleeve has a plurality of angularly spaced inwardly projecting abutmentmembers 63 having a top shoulder 65 for engaging a rear face 64 of thecenter portion.

The peripheral flange portion includes a down turned edge flange 70which is smoothly curved downwardly so as to terminate at an outer edge71 which is spaced axially from the plane of the front face 52 so as toleave a recess 72 underneath the top flange and inwardly of the edge 71.Conveniently the outer edge 71 lies in a plane substantially co-planarwith the rear face 64 of the center portion so that the thickness of thecenter portion is equal to the thickness of the outer flange. Thisallows the relatively sharp edge 71 to engage a surface where thesurface has projections and lumps which are received into the recess 72such as a stippled ceiling or wall

While one embodiment of the present invention has been described in theforegoing, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possiblewithin the scope of the invention. The invention is to be consideredlimited solely by the scope of the appended claims.

1. A vent plate for mounting in a termination receptacle for an airsupply duct, the vent plate comprising: a plate portion; a sleeveportion connected to the plate portion so as to extend to one side ofthe plate portion; the sleeve portion having a hollow interior forreceiving air from the termination receptacle and communicating with acentral area of the plate portion which has openings to allow passage ofair through the plate portion; the plate portion having a peripheralflange portion projecting outwardly from and surrounding the centralarea; wherein the plate portion includes a central opening at thecentral area and a separate center portion which is perforated with aseries of holes so as allow the air to escape; the center portion beingshaped and arranged to be received in the central opening and to beremoved from the central opening leaving the central opening open. 2.The vent plate according to claim 1 wherein the center portion has afront face with is coplanar with a front face of the peripheral flangeportion.
 3. The vent plate according to claim 1 wherein the centerportion has a peripheral wall engaging into an annular wall surroundingthe center opening wherein the peripheral wall and the annular wall havecooperating peripheral ribs for snap fastening the center portion intothe opening.
 4. The vent plate according to claim 1 wherein the sleevehas a plurality of angularly spaced inwardly projecting abutment membersfor engaging a rear face of the center portion.
 5. The vent plateaccording to claim 1 wherein the sleeve has a plurality of angularlyspaced longitudinally extending ribs.
 6. The vent plate according toclaim 1 wherein the peripheral flange portion includes a down turnededge flange so as to terminate at an outer edge which is spaced axiallyfrom the plane of the front face.
 7. The vent plate according to claim 1wherein the outer edge lies in a plane substantially co-planar with arear face of the center portion.
 8. The vent plate according to claim 1wherein the sleeve and the flange portion are integrally molded from aplastics material.
 9. A vent plate for mounting in a terminationreceptacle for an air supply duct, the vent plate comprising: a plateportion; a sleeve portion connected to the plate portion so as to extendto one side of the plate portion; the sleeve portion having a hollowinterior for receiving air from the termination receptacle andcommunicating with a central area of the plate portion which hasopenings to allow passage of air through the plate portion; the plateportion having a peripheral flange portion projecting outwardly from andsurrounding the central area; wherein the peripheral flange portionincludes a down turned edge flange so as to terminate at an outer edgewhich is spaced axially from the plane of the front face.
 10. The ventplate according to claim 9 wherein the sleeve and the flange portion areintegrally molded from a plastics material.